(kòu): to fasten, to button, button

(kòu) is a Chinese character meaning “to fasten.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1614 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, hand. Its radical form (hand) appears in many related characters such as (shǒu, hand), (, hit, make), (zhǎo, to look for).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to fasten
  2. to button
  3. button

Etymology & Origin

pictophonetichand

Decomposition: ⿰扌口 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounzhé kòudiscount5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
niǔ kòubutton
kòu yāto detain
kòu zibutton
kòu liúto detain
bù zhé bù kòua hundred percent
kòu chúto deduct
kòu lánslam dunk
huí kòubrokerage
niǔ kòuvariant of 紐扣|纽扣[niu3 kou4]
dǎ zhé kòuto give a discount
kòu rén xīn xiánto excite
kè kòuto dock
kòu shāto smash a ball
huán huán xiāng kòuclosely linked with one another
kòu qiúto smash a ball
75
Total compounds
44
As first character
49
As last character
7
As middle character

appears in 75 compound words: 44 as the first character, 49 as the last, and 7 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.66718,894 co-occurrences
zhé
0.63521,895 co-occurrences
bān
0.6024,188 co-occurrences
huì
0.5018,940 co-occurrences
liú
0.48914,454 co-occurrences
chú
0.46014,076 co-occurrences
xián
0.4321,818 co-occurrences
lán
0.406954 co-occurrences
chí
0.406552 co-occurrences
niǔ
0.393225 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

bùzhébùkòuHSK 5+

one hundred percent; to the letter; unreservedly; fully; thoroughly; out and out; through and through

phrase
huánhuánxiāngkòuHSK 5+

to be closely connected

phrase
kòurénxīnxiánHSK 7+

very moving; very touching

phrase
qī zhé bā kòuHSK 5+

lit. various cuts and deductions (idiom); fig. greatly reduced; substantially scaled back

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

出你的证件,配合我们的工作。

qǐng kòu chū nǐ de zhèng jiàn , pèi gě wǒ men de gōng zuò .

Please present your identification and cooperate with our investigation.

99 健康网Feb 2026

月子餐送餐上门多少钱?首单或团购有没有折活动

yuè zǐ cān sòng cān shàng mén duō shǎo qián ? shǒu dān huò tuán gòu yǒu méi yǒu zhé kòu huó dòng

How much does it cost to deliver confinement meals to your doorstep? Is there a discount for the first order or group purchase?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

离岸风电3-3期选商机制将拍板 祭“分制”严审实绩

lí àn fēng diàn 3 3 qī xuǎn shāng jī zhì jiāng pāi bǎn jì kòu fēn zhì yán shěn shí jì

The offshore wind power phase 3-3 business selection mechanism will be decided to strictly review the actual performance of the "deduction point system"

Am730Feb 2026

水警夥海关大潭反走私 检值270万元私烟查一辆货车

shuǐ jǐng 夥 hǎi guān dà tán fǎn zǒu sī jiǎn zhí 2 7 0 wàn yuán sī yān kòu chá yī liàng huò chē

The water police and the customs Datam anti-smuggling seized a truck with a value of 2.7 million yuan of illicit cigarettes

LtnFeb 2026

独家》警破竹苗大麻农场 车行、废弃大楼870株新鲜大麻

dú jiā jǐng pò zhú miáo dà má nóng chǎng chē háng , fèi qì dà lóu kòu 8 7 0 zhū xīn xiān dà má

Exclusive" police break the bamboo seedling cannabis farm car dealership and abandoned building deducted 870 fresh cannabis plants

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

动物保健行业暂别高峰 信得科技估值大打折

dòng wù bǎo jiàn háng yè zàn bié gāo fēng xìn dé kē jì gū zhí dà dǎ zhé kòu

The animal health industry temporarily bid farewell to the peak, and the valuation of Xinde Technology was greatly reduced

Tatoeba

用现金付的话会有折吗?

Yòng xiànjīn fù dehuà huì yǒu zhékòu ma?

Is there a discount if you pay in cash?

Tatoeba

你可以给我折吗?

Nǐ kěyǐ gěi wǒ zhékòu ma?

Can you give me a discount?

Tatoeba

你的第二颗钮快掉了。

Nǐ de dì'èr kē niǔ kòu kuài diào le.

Your second button is coming off.

Tatoeba

萨米的包被警察押了。

Sàmǐ de bāo bèi jǐngchá kòuyā le.

Sami's bag was seized by police.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced kòu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 扣 (kòu) mean in Chinese?
扣 (kòu) primarily means "to fasten." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1614 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 扣 and 可?
扣 (kòu) and 可 (kě) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 扌 vs 口 (same 口 component).
How many strokes does 扣 have?
扣 is written with 6 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 扣?
The radical associated with 扣 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 扣?
扣 is composed of: 扌 (semantic), 口 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌口 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 扣?
Common words with 扣 include: 纽扣 (niǔ kòu, "button"); 扣押 (kòu yā, "to detain"); 扣子 (kòu zi, "button"); 扣留 (kòu liú, "to detain"); 折扣 (zhé kòu, "discount"). There are over 75 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 扣 (kòu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation kòu: 抠 (to dig), 口 (mouth). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 扣 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 扣 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.